Op-Ed: Is the title "Facial recognition increases police state in UK" excessive or a correct summary of the way of the world in modern Britain? Already one of the most snooped on western populations news that police have begun to use facial recognition at music festivals under the premise of crime prevention has to be a cause for concern.

This week the media has learned that Leicestershire police used facial recognition technology to "scan the faces of thousands of attendees at the Download music festival in the UK without their knowledge."

The music event held last weekend was used as a trial run for police and their latest 21st Century technology. You could also call it lazy or cut price policing as government cuts slash police numbers in real-terms.

In February "Under the pretext of “fighting terrorism” the British government has allowed the unthinkable to happen, as police have somehow managed to acquire and then upload what equates to approximately 33% of the UK population – 18 million ‘mug shots’ – into a nationwide, real-time facial recognition tracking system" reported 21st Century wire.

Where the US leads the Uk follows

18 million ‘mug shots’ cross-referenced and identified! Was this information gathered from passports at airports, CCTV which monitors almost our every move or where? If it is from police databases are we expected to believe that there are 18 million known 'criminals' in the UK?

Police defended their actions saying after checking them against a list of wanted criminals who target music festivals the images captured were destroyed.

But the same source in February also reported "US authorities begin rolling out the TSA’s new “emotional recognition” surveillance technology systems nationwide – and soon to be implemented worldwide."

We are no longer on a slippery slope but sliding down off the Big Brother cliff at the bottom.

Having unleashed a war of hate following interference in Middle Eastern civil wars and parts of Africa, plus helping reignite the cold war, the west is now facing increased terrorist threats; but if we abandon the very freedoms we like to tout elsewhere and should want to protect we may as well give up and give in.

To date increased surveillance in the UK did nothing to prevent the killing of soldier Lee Rigby on the streets of Woolwich even though his killers were known to police and Special Forces.

Is the obsession with gathering personal data more about controlling the masses, having the upper hand in any future potential protests or rebellions and helping maintain the status quo for the 1% or elite of the UK?

As they say 'you don't know what you got till it’s gone' and that's the truth.

By the time people wake-up and think they smell police state it will be a fait accompli and too late to act.

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